Space missions subject crew members to months of isolation, confinement, and extreme stress. An international study led by Jan Schmutz, professor of psychology at the University of Zurich, and Andrea Cantisani, a psychiatrist and research assistant at the University of Bern, investigated how such conditions affect team dynamics during a 10-month wintering mission at Concordia Station in Antarctica. The station is one of the most isolated places on earth, with winter temperatures dropping to -80 °C. Because of its extreme isolation, it is considered one of the best real-world models for future long-duration missions to the Moon or Mars.
Frequent contact is not automatically beneficial
Twelve crew members completed surveys at four different points during the 10-month mission. They also wore sensors that automatically recorded when and how close they were to each other. This allowed the researchers to track how social relationships, loneliness, mistrust, conflict, team cohesion, and perceived performance evolved over the course of the mission.
One particularly striking finding was that physical proximity does not necessarily have a positive effect. Those who had frequent contact with other team members were more likely to report conflict, increased mistrust, and decreased performance. This result suggests that in highly enclosed environments, not only isolation but also constant closeness can be a source of stress. “In small teams in extreme situations, increased contact does not automatically provide social support and can actually increase tensions,” says Jan Schmutz. Because the analysis is correlational, no conclusions can be drawn about causation. For example, lonely people may have sought more contact, but that interaction was not sufficiently rewarded.
Subgroups emerge over time
Sensor data also revealed that the team split into subgroups as the mission progressed. Crew members were more likely to seek out people who shared the same language or nationality. Such patterns provide support and direction in stressful situations. But at the same time, it can increase the risk of social fragmentation and weaken cohesion within multicultural teams.
Applicable even in extreme environments
This research is particularly relevant for future long-duration space missions, where small crew members must live and work together for months or years, with little privacy and limited contact with the outside world. However, this discovery may also apply to other extreme environments such as submarines, offshore oil platforms, and remote research stations.
This result shows how important it is to identify social trends early and provide targeted support to your team. ”
Jan Schmutz, Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Zurich
This study also demonstrated that wearable proximity sensors can function reliably under extreme conditions. Sensors make it possible to track changes in the team’s daily operations without significantly interfering with crew activities. Future research will further investigate which social interactions help reduce stress and which social interactions may cause further stress.
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Reference magazines:
Cantisani, A. others. (2026) Social interaction in isolated, confined, extreme environments: An Antarctic winter team study using wearable sensors. PNAS. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2533420123
